I don't own FT or HP
When Dumbledore left the room they had been given, all six Earthland mages dropped their carefree expressions into deadly serious ones.
"We can't trust the old man, or the two he brought with him, giant eye and greasy bat." Meredy said, "I felt their nervous systems, all of their hearts accelerated when Harry asked why he had been entered, then the old guy completely dodged the question." she added
"The other headmasters just looked upset about the host school trying to get a leg up, and now that that has been addressed, they should be polite, maybe even friendly except for during the competitions." Ultear added, leaning over the backs of one of the couches in the room.
"I think the most important thing would be to learn everything we can about this world, which means finding some kind of library, then keeping Natsu as far away from it as possible." Harry added, shooting Natsu a mock glare as the dragon slayer plopped down onto a couch.
"Hey, it's not my fault paper burns so easily." he started to complain until Lisanna smacked him on the back of his head.
"Quiet you, just listen." she said, pretending to be angry at him.
"Moving on, Meredy and I will doing the research in the library, knowledge collecting." Ultear said
"I'll talk to the teachers, they're more likely to share information with an adult figure." Laxus added
"Someone needs to talk with the girl who mentioned fairies when we got here, she was the silvery blonde one at the blue table." Meredy said and Lisanna quickly took that job, Natsu grinning at her side.
"And me, this apparently is me home world after all." Harry asked, Ultear turned to him with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"You'll be going to integrating with the population, everyone will want to know the missing hero, so try and befriend everyone." Ultear said and Harry groaned, he wasn't really a people person.
"Let's find beds then, who knows what is going to happen in this madhouse castle." Laxus said and went up one of the three staircases, followed by Harry. Ultear and Meredy went up the second, leaving a heavily blushing Lisanna and a slightly confused Natsu with the third room.
The next morning, the six managed to follow the swarm of robed people down to the large hallway from before. At the head table, Dumbledore gestured for Laxus to take a seat by him and the other headmasters. When Laxus had took the seat between Dumbledore and a stern looking witch, Dumbledore stood up to make an announcement.
"Attention everyone, It may be unplanned, but may I introduce Laxus Dreyar, grandson of the master of the Fairy Tail wizards guild, who will be represented by Harry Potter in the tournament. Treat them as guests like our other foreign schools."
The announcement was met with light applause as the Earthland wizards, minus Laxus, took a seat at the blue table, where they were greeted by a bushy haired girl who looked to be Harry's age.
"Hello, my name is Hermione Granger, welcome to Hogwarts." she greeted cheerily
"Nice to meet you, I'm Natsu Dragneel. The awesomest wizard ever!" Natsu said holding out his hand, which Hermione shook carefully.
"Don't mind my annoying boyfriend, he tends to say things, I'm Lisanna Strauss." Lisanna said in a bright voice.
"I've never met anyone with pink hair before, is that common where you all are from?" Hermione asked, glancing at both Meredy and the grinning Natsu.
"Not common, but not unheard of." Meredy answered. "Why are there four tables, does each table use a different kind of magic?" she asked, Hermione shook her head.
"No, those are the four houses, people are separated based on their personality, the red house is Gryffindor, house of the brave, green is Slytherin, house of cunning, yellow is Hufflepuff, house of the loyal, and this group is Ravenclaw, house of the wise." Hermione said, pointing to each table as she listed them off.
"That just sounds like a breeding ground for rivalries." Ultear said as she helped herself to some fruit at the table, ignoring the looks some of the guys were giving her as she ate a banana.
"It is, but the system has been in place for centuries, god forbid if anyone suggested change." Hermione groaned.
"Common point of dispute?" Harry asked
"Me and a small group of others have a whole list of problems wrong with the school, and a longer list about the wizarding world as a whole." Hermione said, angrily stabbing her food.
"You make it sound like wizards hide from the rest of the world." Ultear said, shooting a glance at Meredy
"They are, which means everything here is outdated and no one can use magic in the outside world, it's so frustrating." Hermione griped.
"Well, that's different." Meredy commented and let the topic drop.
The rest of breakfast the group quizzed Hermione about the ins and outs of the wizarding world, Hermione was more than happy to answer, with a few others pitching in at the table as they ate.
When the meal was over, Lisanna and Natsu discreetly followed the blonde from last night while Ultear and Meredy followed Hermione's instructions to the library.
"I'll just follow you around if that's ok?" Harry asked Hermione as she got up, overstuffed book bag in hand.
"That's fine, I have a few questions of my own if you don't mind." she answered as the two walked out of the great hall.
"I don't mind at all, you'll have to forgive me if I don't answer them all as clearly as I could, I've just been entered in a tournament in a world I thought I had left behind, I want to keep a few tricks up my sleeve." Harry answered as they turned a corner. Hermione went to answer, but was cut off by a boy with hair so blonde it was almost white, on either side of him were what Harry guessed were shaved gorillas shoved into uniforms.
"Well Potter, looks like you are still alive. First thing you should know is that some people are worth more than others, you shouldn't let yourself be seen with trash like that mudblood." He said jutting his chin at Hermione, who took the insult in stride, but Harry could tell it bothered her.
"Who are you exactly?" Harry asked, he had a suspicion from what Hermione had told him earlier, but wanted to be sure.
"Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, my father is a big name in the Ministry." Draco answered and the gorillas nodded their heads enthusiastically.
"Well then Draco, my piece of advice to you is not to insult those who have helped one you attempt to befriend, it makes you look like nothing more than a bully, you aren't a bully are you?" Harry asked, unknowingly his eyes flashed black for a moment and his aura increased.
Malfoy tried not to be intimidated, but the powerful aura and harsh glare made it hard not to be. "Just know your place Potter." Malfoy spat half heartedly before rushing past.
"You know, I think that's the first time he hasn't gotten his way in a verbal spar, what I would have given to have you around these past few years." Hermione said with a chuckle as the two made their way into what Hermione called the charms classroom. For the next hour, Harry witnessed this world's version of magic, listened to the theory, watched the application, and attempts by students at least. Harry was slightly impressed, magic here was much more multipurpose and adaptable, a spell for everything.
But Harry could see a glaring downside right out of the gate, complete and utter reliance on the wand, like a poor holder mage. When he broached the subject to Hermione, she pondered for a moment, agreeing that there may be a bit of a reliance on wands, but magic gave them an edge, both magic knowledge and power playing into who won a duel, the nicest of which were ended by disarming.
After the charms lesson with the Makarov sized charms professor, Harry followed Hermione to her next class, Ancient Runes. This was a class that made sense to Harry after spending a few years around Freed. These runes were less powerful and harder to adapt, but had the redeeming feature of multiple languages instead of the two known rune languages in Earthland. If one were to learn an obscure and complicated enough language, maybe throw some simpler language bits in to throw off someone trying to bypass the rune scheme, and it would be more secure than the Earthland methods. This world's runes, Harry decided, were worth the effort to learn.
After the runes class was lunch where Harry reconvened with the other Earthland mages, and met Luna Lovegood for the first time.
To say Luna was a little strange was like saying Natsu could be a little destructive, a gross understatement. But from what Harry could decipher from the babble about different seemingly imaginary magical creatures and how to ward them off, Luna was a wellspring of information, she just had a unique way of presenting it.
Her comment that the 'batty gliders' were quite unhappy he was in the school and were planning to 'infect his intestines with gas bubbles' was finally translated to the potions master didn't like him and wanted to poison him. A good warning, once deciphered.
Her constant mention of Fairies fighting Nargles also provided Harry something to consider, and a want to bang his head against the table. Nargles was completely undescriptive for a coming threat, but Hermione said Nargles were something Luna often would talk about, if only to say they messed with people's head. She did comment that Harry's group wasn't infested, so a small mercy…. probably.
When the group split for the afternoon, Harry went with Luna, leaving Natsu and Lisanna to follow Hermione down into the dungeons, Hermione quizzing them all the way down.
After Harry was bored to pieces in History of Magic, taught by a piece of history itself, and realized Arithmancy was pointless for him, he couldn't cast these spells, inventing a new spell wouldn't help him at all. Harry went down to dinner, ignoring the sideways glances he was getting for hanging around Luna, who he could figure by this point was considered not entirely there by most of the people here. Harry easily saw where this thought pattern came from, but looking from a different angle added perspective. What Harry saw was a talented girl who could do well at Fairy Tail.
The two had almost made it to the Great Hall when Harry heard a voice from behind him.
"Oi, mate, ditch Loony and come eat with us." a red haired boy in red robes called to Harry. Harry paused mid step, allowing the boy to catch up with them. He was tall and gangly, the top of Harry's head only just reaching past his jawline. Despite that he looked to be around Harry's age.
"My name's Ron, Ron Weasley, 4th year Gryffindor." Ron said, holding out his hand, Harry just looked at the hand, not taking it, waiting until the silence grew awkward and Ron put his hand down.
"If you want to go with him Harry, I understand." Luna said quietly, all hints of aloofness gone from her voice. That was the final clue for Harry, Luna was bullied, probably didn't have the best home life to match, and the airy attitude was her mask, much like his own seriousness, Meredy's robotic meticulousness and Natsu's goofiness.
"I believe her name is Luna, it would be best for your health if you remembered that small detail." Harry said in a calm voice and went to go around the boy, but he stepped in his path.
"So you're going to keep hanging out with a freak like Loony, people are going to say things mate, you're new so you probably don't know, but she's weird, no friends except for a few other oddballs." Ron was starting to get on Harry's nerves, but he kept his composure, if he could deal with Natsu and Gray trying to jump him and not get angry, he could handle a red haired tool.
"There is no such thing as a freak, only people who exceed your ability to comprehend, good day." and with that Harry brushed past Ron, striding towards the others at the Ravenclaw table, but not before he could hear Luna's parting shot to Ron, a fresh smile adorning her face.
"Don't let it get to you, you just have a lot of nargles swarming in your head, and Harry wants to keep his group nargle free, handle that before approaching him again." and then she skipped after Harry.
And so the week continued, Harry made friends with a few others in other houses, Justin Finch-Fletchley from Hufflepuff had a talent for runes that had Harry following him every time he had that class, Neville Longbottom from Gryffindor had an unbelievable understanding for magical flora and fauna, a pair of girls from Slytherin, Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis showed Harry around the bowels of the school, all while avoiding the potions master Luna had predicted wanted to poison him, safe to say potions was the only class Harry hadn't toured yet. And then there was Hermione, who had a drive to want to know EVERYTHING, no matter how minute the detail. That group and a few others from other years, like Luna made up a small study group every weekend in the library. Neville had happily dubbed the group, "Hogwart's Misfits". It was the only time Harry saw people from all four houses voluntarily sitting with each other without some form of hostility.
Meredy and Ultear both were sticking to the library, they occasionally went around to classes, but it was only if they needed clarification on a topic. They promised to reveal everything they were researching once they were certain of a few facts.
Lisanna and Natsu used their natural friendliness and had made friends in just about every group, except for Ron Weasley and Malfoy's group. Ron had made a few stupid comments about Natsu's hair that earned him a punch in the face that wouldn't even phase most Earthland wizards Harry knew, but it dropped Ron like a stone.
Malfoy on the other hand, had made a remark about Lisanna in a bathroom, not knowing Natsu was in one of the stalls. Malfoy was in the hospital week for a week with various burns and missing all his hair. All Laxus did when asked to discipline Natsu was cuff him upside the head and told him to burn him in a less central area next time, where the smell of cooked ferret wouldn't bother so many people, in other words, don't get caught.
Laxus could be found most days with the other two headmasters, grilling them for knowledge on the tasks and the history of the tournament. He didn't get much, being a competitor school and all, but knowing there was to be a ball on Christmas was a good tidbit of knowledge to have.
He had also gotten some aid in going down to a village near the school and picking up a small wardrobe for the entire group. Ultear did not appreciate being given a stack of bikini tops, and proceeded to smack Laxus with them, then wear one of them to breakfast the next morning.
Laxus bought her real shirts the next day.
Then the day came when a mousy haired boy Harry vaguely knew by Colin Creevey came into the Runes room, requesting Harry for tournament business. Harry left reluctantly, ignoring Colin's babbling, vaguely wondering why they would send him to collect him for tournament business, and what this tournament business would be.
When reached their destination, Harry got jumped by a vulture woman wearing what looked like crocodile skin, holding an acid green quill.
"Welcome Mr. Potter, I'm Rita Skeeter from the Daily Prophet, would you mind terribly if I could get an interview?" as soon as the words were out of her mouth, she was dragging him by the arm towards a broom cupboard.
That is, until she was cut off by a large blonde man whose glare could make Natsu pause.
"I think it would inappropriate to leave an adult alone with a minor in such close quarters, people might say things, I'll give you an interview here while Harry watches the 'weighing of the wands'." Laxus said as he led Skeeter right back out the door, giving Harry a wink as he left, he was more than well equipped to deal with a mud slinging writer.
"I see our champions are gathered, welcome everyone, to the weighing of the wands!" the excitable man who Harry knew as Bagman said as he bounced on the balls of his feet, like a big child. The other headmasters were keeping an eye on the door, as if waiting for Laxus to storm back in.
"Well then, we have brought in wand expert Garrick Ollivander to judge the worthiness of your wands, ladies first I believe." Dumbledore said, a twinkle in his eyes that Harry was starting to find annoying.
Fleur handed her wand to a wizard who looked almost as old as Dumbledore and he began spinning it lightly in his hand.
"9 ¾ inches, rosewood, and oh my, the core is?" it seemed to be more for clarification to Harry than anything.
"An 'air from ze 'ead of a Veela, one ov my Grandmuzzer's." Fleur said in accented English, watching carefully as Ollivander handled her wand.
"Yes, I find Veela hair too temperamental for my work, but if it works for you, all the better." and with that, Ollivander summoned a few birds out of thin air and deemed the wand in perfect condition, handing it back to the young woman, then repeating the process with Victor and Cedric.
"And finally, our surprise competitor, Mr. Potter." Ollivander said, holding his hand out expectantly.
"My style of magic does not require the use of a wand, so I have nothing for you to see." he said bluntly, drawing the look from everyone in the room. Harry rolled his eyes and expanded.
"The world I learned my magic from has two main classifications of wizards, holder and caster, holder needs an object, any object, sometimes a wand, to use magic. Caster types, like myself, channel magic directly from our bodies." Harry explained.
"Well then, my service is not needed then, I wish you good luck Mr Potter and invite you to my shop if you ever do desire a wand." Mr. Ollivander said cheerily before Dumbledore led him out the door, perfectly matching the timing of a frustrated Skeeter and a smirking Laxus reentering the room.
"Before the champions leave, we need pictures for the Prophet." Rita said in a huff, gesturing to a cameraman who was in the back of the room.
The pictures were a bit of a disaster. The cameraman kept trying to center Fleur, Rita was tugging Harry to the front, and Karkaroff wouldn't let Krum be anywhere but front and center. Poor Cedric just stood in the back and laughed good naturedly as he watched his fellow champions get tugged around.
By the time everyone was finished, it was time for dinner. Laxus caught up with Harry as they made their way through the now semi familiar castle.
"Meredy and Ultear are presenting their research tonight, they said they have some important stuff, and on top of that, I've been doing a little research of my own, we have to start preparing you for the first task." Laxus said and Harry nodded.
"Of course, we can only head home once this whole mess is cleaned up." Harry said, "What did you say to Skeeter that pissed her off so much, she looked rather upset with you." Harry asked, Laxus's predatory grin in response was telling enough to know it had been something big.
"That quill of hers was enchanted to take what the person said and twist it in the worst possible way, I had Ultear mess with the timing on its self inking function, so while she thought she was getting a whole lot of bull to shovel on us from our talk, she really got a whole lot of nothing." Laxus said and Harry let out a bark of laughter.
"Good one, but we'll see tonight if I can one up you." Harry said, a mischievous glint in his eyes. Laxus went to comment, but was met by a charging Natsu, who had taken to his old habits of jumping the two of them for a fight.
About halfway through dinner with Meredy and Hermione, who had become research buddies, Harry carefully and quietly sent low powered invisible charges into the teacher's silverware.
The metal conducted the electricity and gave them all a small shock, causing them to throw their silverware down all at once, only Laxus was unaffected.
What the teachers except for Dumbledore and Hagrid it seemed didn't yet realize what all their hair was sticking straight out and up. The entire great hall exploded in laughter at the sight of all the professors, except the three foreign 'headmasters', with hair that stuck straight up and seemed to be fighting any attempts to calm it. Dumbledore looked like a lion with a great white mane.
Harry particularly noticed the loud laughter of a pair of redheads at the Gryffindor table, the school pranksters. A quick volt had their hair sticking up like the teachers, inciting even louder laughter.
That night the 'Fairy Tail' mages pooled their data, and it brought up some issues. On the tournament front, the past tasks dug up by Meredy and Ultear, as well as rumors heard by Laxus, they could draw a few conclusions, each task would be retrieval based, and the first task would most likely be against a large monster.
It was quickly decided to shift focus to finding the most available dangerous creatures and coming up with a way to deal with each of them.
Next was the Harry's history, which started with a boy named Tom Marvolo Riddle, who later anagrammed his name to I am Lord Voldemort, which Harry thought just sounded ridiculous, but a better evil name than Tom.
Riddle's story of hate and mass murder painted him as this world's modern Zeref, but not really as powerful, more like a dark guild leader.
The best part for Harry, Dumbledore was convinced he wasn't dead, and that he had gone on record several times saying he expected future Harry to combat Riddle. The whole thing reeked of under the table deals and manipulations on the old man's part.
Then there was the old man's backstory. His father imprisoned, mother and sister dead, a brother who slugged him over an open casket, then he vanished, newspapers stopped everything on him, then he shows up again overseas fighting Grindelwald, the Riddle of the time.
His defeating Grindelwald in an epic door began his legend and people, which only one newspaper seemed to accurately report on, a piece called the Quibbler, told how he had help from a Charlus Potter, Harry's grandfather, but he was knocked out halfway through the fight by Dumbledore accidentally missing Grindelwald with a banishing spell and knocking Charlus out on a stone wall.
From there, Dumbledore basically could ask for anything he wanted, and he built himself the image of a kind mentor, becoming a school teacher, , headmaster. From there, he became head of the wizard court, the Wizengamot, and the ICW, which was like an international Magic council. The guy had fingers in everything.
What interested Harry though, was how after his parents had died, it was Dumbledore who proclaimed him the savior, and said he was hidden away from the remainders of Riddle's forces.
From what Harry had gathered on the days following Riddle's defeat/disappearance. Both his godmother and godfather, an Alice Longbottom and Sirius Black were admitted to a hospital for mental help and imprisoned to await trial respectively. The latter had since broken out, but from what Meredy and Ultear had found, he had spent 12 years awaiting a trial, before breaking out. The former had never left the hospital, records said her mind was completely gone, driven from her head.
Dumbledore had also sealed the official wills of Harry's parents, and making it so only a court vote could unseal them.
"From what Meredy and I could tell from everything, Dumbledore would have had complete influence over you until you were legally an adult here, 17. He controlled where you went after your parents died, and would have had control over you here once you came, up until you graduated." Ultear finished, laying the last of the copied articles out over the table.
"And no one has noticed how he basically controls all but one section of the government, and even then, can twist things to get whatever he wants, no matter how illegal?" Laxus asked, getting a solemn nod from Ultear.
"So basically, were stuck among a bunch of dumb sheep who followed a twisted old goat around because he keeps the black flesh eating sheep away, oh and he likes little boys. That about right?" Natsu clarified, much to the amusement of everyone present.
"So we avoid the old guy, turn a few sheep, then get out of here leaving destruction and chaos in our wake, and if Riddle comes back, pound his skull in." Laxus said, already heading towards the stairs.
"Exactly, and I think I'm going to get a little payback on the old fart for sticking me with my arcanaphobic relatives, and have a little explosion on him when I 'find out' he stuck me with abusive relatives." Harry said with a grin, planning what would go down in history as one of the most one sided prank wars in history.
Haha, I'm done with another chapter and in a few days is my class trip across the Atlantic, which means long plane rides, which means multiple chapters. What I don't know is if I will get signal where I am going to be able to post, so if I go dead, it's because I can't post, which means there will be a flood of posts on the 25/26th. I also will be trying to get my older Percy Jackson stories a fresh update, but I can't make any promises.
First task next, and a little look into Dumbledore's manipulations to come, and how frustrating Harry can be when he tries.
Happy Reading -Centurion Africanus
